Urban centres must have environmental emission thresholds

By Simon Mone

Not so long ago, Kampala appeared on the list of the most polluted cities. There is a general feeling among people that most cities in this world are not yet ready to pass the changing climate examination.

This feeling comes from the fact that many cities are still busy ticking their checklists of "top-priority" challenges. So in that sense, they cannot ably and comfortably sit around the climate change table, to be among the solutions.

That they are not yet ready to propose nice answers to things that might stop our vulnerability to this changing climate. Like quantifying threshold on pollution and levying deterrent fees on pollution offenders.

Like demarcating areas in cities meant for industrial development from those we call our residences. Many causal factors of climate change and environmental degradation are there for you to note. This opinion alone cannot exhaust all. So we look at some.

Among those lining up to expose our weakness are; we have these unpalatable emissions into our environment that are contributing to degradation.

Emissions and effluents that are not even quantified, coming from automobiles and industries, to lakes untreated, thereby contaminating and polluting it.

Until today and probably tomorrow, cities will not be able to supply reliable quality and quantity of clean and safe water to its residents. In a lot of cities, drainage systems for rainwater and waste water are not separated.

Other areas have degraded drainage systems, so much that they don't serve the intended purpose. They get blocked and storm water finds way to residences and cause heavy losses. People's livelihoods are destroyed.

Wetland cover is also reducing quite fast. Then, our much valued forests are giving way to charcoal vendors, leaving no vegetation. And there is this inadequate planning of developments in cities, where vital elements of infrastructure are omitted.

Developments are completely eliminating our green environment.

And are ignoring facilities meant to tackle say flooding. That is why cities have lost their cool. They now continue to suffer recurrent flooding. Our treasured cities are our administrative centres. They are also economic and educative headquarters, and need protection from degradation.

Most of them grew back in the colonial times. But when our colonial masters left us, everything began to follow the bathtub curve. Physical planning took a reverse trend for worse. We have hampered the ability for cities to cope with new developments. Cities located in valleys are now-a-days very vulnerable.

In the likely event of natural calamity, the severity of impact leaves no resident without tear rolling down their fat cheeks. Facilities to relay early disaster warning for things like storms and floods are not a priority.

So emergencies are difficult to deal with. Part of the error is the lack of climate change awareness. It has not only made us more vulnerable. It has also multiplied the cruelty of climate change disasters.

Getting towns ready for climate change is hard but we can start. The battle starts with our own initiatives. First, we need to check if existing regulations thoroughly cover the quantification of emissions into the environment. And see if acceptable emissions are stated clearly.

See if regulations have good deterrents necessary to reduce environmental degradation. Start to implement developments with the awareness of climate change.

Build capacity of administrators. Proprietors and residents should be empowered to protect and watch out for this changing climate. Then we shall confidently talk about the broad subject of green cities and environmental protection. These are developmental, financial, social, moral issues.

All of the issues you can think of are affected. Not just an issue to do with atmospheric science.

The writer is a civil engineer